Thematizations and Symbolizations from Chess in Persian Mystic Poetry

Resorting to a wide range of themes, and symbolizing them accordingly, is a very common technique employed by mystics and poets to express their innermost meanings. Due to the wide range of conceptual resources available, which are affected by different variables, such mystic poets as Sana’ee, Attar, Molawi, Sa’adi, Hafez, Eraghi, Awhadi and others have resorted to all linguistic and rhetorical devices in hand, to further develop their mystic thoughts and get them across. Surprisingly, they have even used concepts from chess, an interesting mental exercise that is straightly associated with epic and scenes of battleground, apparently having very little to do with mystic notions. The present study was an attempt to thoroughly review Persian mystic poetry for the purpose of analyzing poems for the notions borrowed from chess. The findings indicate that Iranian mystic poets, in general and Molawi, in particular must have owned a deep understanding of chess since they have been able to display mystic issues and poetic thoughts through the delicacy and precision inherent in chess.